Using Google Knol to Build Website Traffic

One of the youngest babies of Google’s family of products, Knol is a reference site that contains articles penned by the contributors on a plethora of subjects. Knol is a project of Google, released on July 23, 2008, and is currently in a beta stage. According to Google, Knol means a unit of knowledge.

The term “Knol” is used to refer to the project as well as any article published in it.This might be a bit confusing, but you’ll gain a better understanding of Knol once you visit the website. In order to learn how you can increase website traffic with Google Knol, you will first have to understand how Knol works which is precisely what we intend doing here.

A New Kid on the Encyclopedia Block

Is Google Knol any different from the usual knowledge hubs like Wikipedia, Squidoo Lens, Helium or Hub Pages? You bet it is! Google randomly authenticates the author’s identity and credentials through e-mail and phone calls. It is also different from the other knowledge repositories in that the levels of scholarship Knol strives to achieve are lofty. Many submissions are even five thousand words long. They are substantiated with tons of references pointing to a variety of online and offline sources.

Feature Rich and Highly Informative

Google Knol’s stated mission is to present to its readership accurate and relevant information that is of very high quality. Other features of Knol:

Places special importance on the author’s view and perspective in the article
Enables multiple articles to be written on the same topic
Hands over the editorial control and responsibility to the author
Allows for hosting AdSense banners based on a unique revenue sharing model
Invites feedback from readers through ratings, comments, suggested edits, and reviews
Over 100,000 submissions to date in Knol
We believe that in order to find multiple articles with identical titles on Knol, Google’s famous search function should be used rather than monotonously browsing through the titles.

Google has left all the editing options with the contributor. The author can close any editing, allow the co-authors to edit, or enable the public to edit.

Have something to say about the Knol that you just cannot keep to your self? You are free to provide feedback, even if the Knol is closed for editing. This is done through rating, comments, and reviews.

Content Submission Guidelines

Google has released specific guidelines that address what can and cannot be published as a Knol. It prohibits material that deals in pornography, violence, discrimination, intolerance and copyright violation. These are things you shouldn’t be doing any way if you wish to Increase website traffic with Google Knol.

Nofollow Policy

Google marks a number of pages with in the Knol project with the “nofollow” directive. This implies that the links with these web pages are not crawled by search engine spiders. This policy has changed into a “follow” directive for a number of trusted authors. More on this in a moment.

A Truckload of Benefits for the Knol User

Take a look, and you just might be surprised!
Pages and pages of rich content with no end in sight
Ability to earn quick cash with your Knol submission through Google AdSense
Better quality articles at your fingertips
Personalized pieces with the focus on authorship
Plenty of choices among different articles on a single topic
Freedom for you to rate, comment, or suggest an editorial intervention
The power of Google behind each Knol
Watch out Wikipedia and Others
Knol has been compared to About.com, Squidoo Lens, Associated Content and Hub Pages. It is also a possible rival to Wikipedia and Scholarpedia. Unlike sites such as Wikipedia, you can truly benefit from the personal insights of the author along with the Knol submission made by the author. Adding the author name to Knol content lends a unique personality to the article. This is in direct contrast to Wikipedia that carries a neutral point of view. The policy of uploading multiple articles on a single topic will encourage better quality standards, as different Knols will compete for higher ranking in Google results. Wikipedia, on the other hand stresses on one page per topic.

The option of maintaining closed Knol, or Knols editable only by co-authors eliminates the threat of defacement of content. Needless to say, this threat is always there in peer-driven reference sites. Now, you don’t need to worry about any one editing your Knol without your knowledge even if your primary objective of contributing to Knol is to increase website traffic with Google Knol.

Knol the Robust Traffic Builder

Google Knol carries the enormous potential of being a first rate traffic builder for your website. However, there are a number of caveats. First, Google has openly stated that the nofollows will be used abundantly on all submissions unless the author builds a large following and a positive reputation on Knol. Google Knol may not be able to generate valuable back links for you in the first round. However, building and boosting high quality targeted website traffic is a whole different story. The resource box at the end of each Knol has the potential of becoming a traffic block buster. Remember, most Google Knol pages carry a PR rating of five and if you make it to the front page of Google Knol, the PR is a mighty seven! Contract the services of a top notch content developer to write a Knol for you if you don’t believe you are qualified to do justice to your niche through thought provoking and insightful submissions. Therefore, do consider Knolling at least once to see how many new traffic numbers you can touch in one go!